Perinatal group B streptococcal infections in Israel

Among 12,500 babies born in our hospital from 1977 to 1982, there was one case of neonatal sepsis due to Group B beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (GBS), an incidence which is significantly lower than that reported in Western countries (3 to 6 per 1,000 live births). Among 385 pregnant women from Jerusalem and Haifa, the vaginal colonization rate with GBS was 2.8%, in contrast with 4.6 to 36% reported in Western countries. Umbilical and ear cultures were obtained from the infants of the 85 mothers who were examined in Haifa. These cultures were repeated at 3 to 5 days of age in 60 of the 85 babies. From the above data, mother-to-infant transmission rates and neonatal nosocomial infection rates with GBS were found to be 66 and 6.6%, respectively, which correlates well with 60 to 75% and 12 to 27% reported in the literature. The low incidence of GBS neonatal sepsis in our survey may be related to the low maternal colonization rate with GBS. The low maternal colonization rate could be related to still unidentified epidemiological and environmental factors.